• “Package 0” involves completing the three projects underway (two with the United Kingdom, IFA 2 and ElecLink, and one with Italy, the Savoy-Piedmont project);
• “Package 1” includes all interconnections considered “without regret,” meaning their justification has been proven no matter which energy mix scenario plays out (strengthening begun with Spain via the Bay of Biscay line, strengthening with Germany and Belgium, the cost of which is low relative to the benefits provided);
• “Package 2” grouping together all other interconnection projects that are “subject to conditions” that may be political in nature (outcome of Brexit and clarification of the United Kingdom’s status), economic (amount of European subsidies, change in energy landscapes that may or may not support a project’s benefits to society) or technical.

Since the Ten-Year Network Development Plan was published, construction has started on the Package 1 Avelin/Mastaing-Avelgem-Horta and Aubange phase-shift transformer interconnections. Uncertainty surrounding the Celtic project has been lifted after a European subsidy was granted: French and Irish regulators were able to reach an agreement in October 2019 on the cross-border division of project costs.

Illustration of the “Packages” included in the Ten-Year Network Development Plan

The “IFA 2” line was brought into service on 22 January 2021, as part of the plan to strengthen interconnections between France and England to support the energy transition, optimise the use of generation sources, and help ensure security of supply to both countries.

It involves creating a HVDC line about 225 km long between Bellengreville, south of Caen, and Fareham, England. Converter stations at both ends transform the DC into AC. The interconnector has a transmission capacity of 1 GW.

With IFA 2 in service, France and England are now connected via two interconnectors, the first being IFA 2000, the France-England HVDC interconnection with a capacity of 2,000 MW that was commissioned in 1986.

The Celtic Interconnector project, led by RTE and its Irish counterpart EirGrid, involves creating a HVDC line spanning about 575 km (of which approximately 500 km subsea) to allow direct electricity exchanges between France and Ireland. With a capacity of 700 MW, the cable will link the northern coast of Brittany to the southern coast of Ireland in 2026.

This France-Ireland interconnection project will help further the European Union’s energy transition and climate change goals by favouring the development of renewable energies and the shift toward a low-carbon electricity mix. It will also strengthen energy solidarity between the two countries.

In 2013, the Celtic Interconnector project was recognised as a Project of Community Interest, paving the way for it to receive a grant from European Commission recently.

The Bay of Biscay project involves creating a new interconnection between France and Spain. Scheduled to be brought into service in 2027, it will boost exchange capacity between the two countries to almost 5,000 MW. This new 370 km link will run from the substation in Cubnezais (near Bordeaux) to the one in Gatika (near Bilbao), and will be the first France-Spain interconnection that is partially underwater.

This project, conducted by RTE and its Italian counterpart TERNA, scheduled to be completed in the last quarter of 2021, involves building a new France-Italy interconnector between the substations at Grande-Ile (Sainte-Hélène du Lac) and Piossasco (Turin), an underground HVDC line almost 190 km long. The new line will represent a bona fide technological feat and help increase mutual assistance possibilities in Europe by boosting exchange capacity between these two countries by 60%.